Top 10 Lighthouses in Poland
Poland's Baltic coast extends approximately 770 kilometres from the German border at the Oder estuary in the west to the Gulf of Gdańsk and the Lithuanian frontier near Kłajpeda in the east. This coast encompasses a navigational geography of considerable complexity: the Świna and Dziwna channels connecting the great Szczecin Lagoon to the sea, the open sandy coast of Pomerania, the Hel Peninsula — a long curving sand spit enclosing Puck Bay — and the deep harbour approaches of Gdańsk and Gdynia, among the largest ports in the Baltic. Lighthouse construction on the Polish Baltic coast was primarily the work of Prussian and then German engineering in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with the towers at Świnoujście, Rozewie, and Hel dating from this period. After the First World War the Polish Corridor gave Poland access to Gdańsk; after the Second World War the entire coast came under Polish administration. Today the lighthouses are maintained by the Urząd Morski (Maritime Office) of Gdynia and Szczecin. The Polish coast has several structures of exceptional architectural and historical significance, including the tallest brick lighthouse in the world.
1. Świnoujście Lighthouse, Świnoujście
The Świnoujście Lighthouse, completed in 1823 to the designs of Karl Friedrich Schinkel's engineering circle, is the tallest brick lighthouse in the world, standing 65 metres tall on the western tip of the island of Uznam at the mouth of the Świna channel. The cylindrical red-brick tower tapers slightly to its iron lantern gallery and produces a group-flashing white light visible for 24 nautical miles, guiding vessels into the Szczecin Lagoon approach — the gateway to the major inland port of Szczecin. The tower is open to visitors throughout the summer and the 309 steps to the gallery provide a panorama of the Oder delta, the German island of Rügen, and the Baltic horizon. The lighthouse complex includes original keeper's dwellings from the Prussian era. Świnoujście is also home to the world's longest car tunnel under a river, completed in 2023, and the lighthouse visit pairs naturally with the town's substantial spa and beach resort infrastructure.
2. Rozewie Lighthouse, Rozewie
Rozewie, near the small village of the same name east of Władysławowo, marks the northernmost point of mainland Poland — the point where the straight Pomeranian coast gives way to the Hel Peninsula. The current lighthouse, completed in 1875 to replace an 1822 predecessor, is a rectangular red-brick tower 33 metres tall with a focal plane of about 83 metres above sea level owing to the elevated coastal bluff. Its group-flashing white light is visible for about 26 nautical miles. A second, older white tower from 1822 stands nearby as a heritage structure. The Maritime Museum at Rozewie, one of the smallest but most concentrated lighthouse museums in Poland, occupies the former keeper's dwelling and documents the full history of the coast from the Hanseatic period to the present. The headland is a popular coastal walk destination and the two lighthouse towers create an evocative paired silhouette against the Baltic sky.
3. Hel Lighthouse, Hel
The lighthouse at the tip of the Hel Peninsula was originally built in 1826 and substantially rebuilt in 1942 by the German occupying forces using brickwork from a destroyed church — a piece of wartime construction history that adds a disturbing layer to the tower's story. The current tower stands 41.5 metres tall, with a focal plane of about 42 metres, showing a flashing white light with a range of about 16 nautical miles. Hel itself, the narrow sand spit extending 35 kilometres into the Bay of Gdańsk, was heavily fortified and the scene of intense fighting in September 1939 — the last position of organized Polish resistance on the mainland coast. The lighthouse is managed by the Maritime Office of Gdynia and open for climbing. The adjacent Fokarium, a breeding station for grey seals, makes the lighthouse tip of the peninsula a family destination of notable quality.
4. Stilo Lighthouse, near Łeba
The Stilo Lighthouse, a red-brick cylinder of 1904 standing 31 metres tall on a dune system near the village of Żarnowska, is one of the most atmospherically situated on the Polish coast. The tower stands in a clearing in the coastal forest, surrounded by shifting sand dunes and within earshot of the surf, giving it a quality of isolation unusual for a lighthouse accessible by footpath from a nearby village. The group-flashing white light has a range of about 20 nautical miles. The area is part of the Łeba Dunes National Park zone and the lighthouse is embedded in a landscape of mobile sand dunes that have buried former villages. Nearby Lake Łebsko is one of the largest coastal lakes in Poland and the whole Słowiński area is protected as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
5. Krynica Morska Lighthouse, Krynica Morska
The Krynica Morska (German: Kahlberg) lighthouse, built in 1895 on the Vistula Spit — the narrow sand barrier separating the Vistula Lagoon from the Baltic — is a red-brick tower 36 metres tall with a group-flashing white light of about 16-nautical-mile range. The Vistula Spit is a contested geographical feature: its southern section was for decades part of Russia's Kaliningrad exclave, cutting off overland access between Poland and the northeastern part of the country. A new canal through the spit, completed in 2022, has changed the regional geography. The lighthouse is accessible from the small resort town of Krynica Morska and the tower is open for visitors in summer. The spit's combination of pine forest, sandy beach, and Soviet-era military heritage makes it one of the most intriguing landscapes on the Polish coast.
6. Kołobrzeg Lighthouse, Kołobrzeg
The Kołobrzeg Lighthouse, a red-brick cylinder built in 1945 to replace the wartime-destroyed predecessor, stands 26 metres tall at the entrance to the port of Kołobrzeg — one of the most significant saltworks and fishing ports on the Pomeranian coast since the medieval period. The town was virtually obliterated in the fighting of March 1945 and the current lighthouse is part of the rebuilt waterfront infrastructure. Its flashing white light has a range of about 14 nautical miles. The lighthouse is open for climbing and the harbour promenade gives a good view of the tower in its working port context. Kołobrzeg is the largest beach resort in northwestern Poland and the lighthouse is a natural focal point of the seafront.
7. Darłowo Lighthouse, Darłowo
The lighthouse at the mouth of the Wieprza River at Darłowo (German: Rügenwalde) is a white masonry tower of 1885, 22 metres tall, which marks the narrow river harbour entrance used by fishing vessels and pleasure craft. Darłowo was a Hanseatic trading port and the castle of the Dukes of Pomerania survives as one of the best-preserved medieval castle complexes on the Baltic coast. The lighthouse is small and utilitarian but occupies a charming working-harbour context alongside the fish market. It is not open for climbing but is freely visible from the harbour quay.
8. Czołpino Lighthouse, Słowiński National Park
The Czołpino Lighthouse, built in 1875, is a red-brick tower 25 metres tall set in the remote coastal forest of the Słowiński National Park, accessible by a marked hiking trail from Smołdzino. It is one of the least-visited lighthouses in Poland, which contributes significantly to its appeal: the walk through the dune forest, with the tower appearing suddenly in a sandy clearing, has a quality of discovery absent from the road-accessible towers. The light marks the stretch of coast between Łeba and Darłowo. The tower is open in summer and the panorama from the gallery encompasses the mobile dune landscape of the park and the dark pine forest stretching inland.
9. Gdańsk Nowy Port Lighthouse, Gdańsk
The lighthouse at Nowy Port (New Port), the outer harbour district of Gdańsk, is a cast-iron tower built in 1894 at the end of the northern breakwater guarding the mouth of the Dead Vistula. Standing 27 metres tall with a red-painted lantern, it marks the northern entrance to the main Gdańsk port complex and the passage through the Vistula delta's shifting channels. Nowy Port is an authentic working-class harbour district and the lighthouse, embedded among apartment blocks and a fish-processing plant, presents a different maritime landscape from the postcard views of central Gdańsk. The tower is active and maintained by the Maritime Office.
10. Sopot Lighthouse, Sopot
The lighthouse at Sopot pier, the wooden pleasure pier that is one of the longest in the Baltic, is a small lantern structure installed at the end of the pier extension and used to mark the swimming and boat zone. It is functionally modest but culturally significant: Sopot is the most fashionable seaside resort town in Poland and the pier, extending 511 metres into the bay, is the most visited promenade on the Polish coast. The lighthouse is the backdrop to thousands of photographs annually and defines the seaward view from the pier. Combined with the Hel Peninsula lights to the north, the full Bay of Gdańsk lighthouse circuit can be completed in a single long day from Gdańsk.
Visiting Poland's Lighthouses
The best bases for the main lighthouse circuit are Gdańsk (for Hel, Krynica Morska, and Gdańsk Nowy Port), Łeba (for Stilo and Czołpino), and Świnoujście (for the tallest brick tower). Most lighthouse towers are open to climbers from May to September, with extended hours in July and August. The Urząd Morski sells combined lighthouse passes in some districts. The Hel Peninsula is reachable by ferry from Gdańsk or by road during the non-summer months when the road is less congested. Open the map to explore the full network of Polish Baltic lighthouses, including minor harbour lights and the Vistula Lagoon marks not described here.